


Worth Living For

by waitingondaisies



Series: Worth Living For [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Gen, Ghost Sirius Black, Harry Potter Needs a Hug, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, Sirius Black is a Little Shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24823945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waitingondaisies/pseuds/waitingondaisies
Summary: Sirius Black is utterly loyal to his godson, Harry Potter. So loyal, in fact, that not even death can separate them. Sirius returns to the land of the living as a ghost with one mission, and one mission only: ensure Harry's unconditional happiness.
Relationships: Sirius Black & Harry Potter
Series: Worth Living For [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1818613
Comments: 34
Kudos: 147





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> beta read by the wonderful [duplicity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/duplicity/pseuds/duplicity)!

Harry lay in bed and stared blankly up at the ceiling. Uncle Vernon had not taken well to being threatened at the train station by the Order, so the car ride back had been long and tense. 

When they had arrived at the house, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry’s trunk and locked it away in the cupboard, as he usually did. Then, face puce and hands shaking, he had ordered Harry to his room. Harry had complied, more than glad to be away from the hostility emanating in waves off the man. 

But now Harry was alone with his thoughts. 

Despite his best efforts to stop himself, Harry continued to linger on Sirius and his conversation with Nearly Headless Nick. The ghost had told him that Sirius had gone on, and the words kept echoing through his mind, again and again, like knives to his heart. 

_ He will not come back _ , Nick had said.  _ He will have... gone on. _

But that just couldn’t be right. It couldn’t be. Sirius wouldn’t leave him alone like this. 

During his fourth year, Sirius had been willing to live on rats for him, and this past year, Sirius had been willing to live in his horrible mother’s house. It just didn’t make sense that Sirius would choose to “ _ go on” _ if there was any other option. It didn’t matter that Sirius hadn’t shown up yet– maybe he was still at the Ministry. 

Harry sat bolt upright.

Sirius had died at the Department of Mysteries, so that was where his ghost would be. And– and he had died by falling through that veil, so that room might have special wards around it that had trapped his ghost. No wonder Sirius hadn’t shown up yet, then! He was trapped in London! 

Harry stood up from his bed and began to pace his small room. 

If Sirius was stuck in the Department of Mysteries, then Harry had to get him out of there. The fact that it had hardly been a week since he had tried to do that very same thing was not lost on him, and the consequences of his failure weighed heavily on him. 

But Harry knew that he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t at least try to get Sirius out of the Ministry. Harry did his best to assuage his fear of repeating the same mistakes by reminding himself that it wasn’t possible for the same outcome to happen again. Harry would not be walking into a trap this time, and he would be going alone. 

Harry paused in his pacing, startled to realize that he now thought of the trip as a certainty. 

The only thing left, then, was to plan how he would do it. Filled with purpose, Harry sat down at his rickety desk. He rummaged in the drawers for several moments, looking for writing utensils. He managed to find an old composition notebook that Dudley had once used for school, then forgotten about, and a nearly destroyed pencil. 

Since he was doing this alone, he’d have to be organized and channel his inner Hermione.

First, Harry needed to decide when he would leave, since that would determine how long he would have to plan. Harry tapped the stub of the pencil against his desk. Maybe he was being impulsive, but he wanted to go tonight. 

The thought of Sirius, trapped alone in the Ministry, rankled. If their positions were reversed, Sirius would have realized where Harry was and rescued him already. But it had taken Harry several days to even  _ realize _ that Sirius needed rescue. Harry had already lost enough time, so he would leave tonight. 

Harry wrote,  _ TONIGHT _ , in big block letters at the top of the first blank page. Then he underlined it twice for good measure. 

Transportation was the next problem Harry needed to solve. The thestrals he had used previously weren’t an option this time since he was stuck in the Muggle world. But because he was starting in the Muggle world, he could use Muggle transportation! Harry grinned and wrote,  _ Take the train _ , on the next line. 

So if he was going to take the train, then he needed Muggle money. Harry paused, his grip tightening around the pencil. There was Muggle money, and plenty of it, around the house. 

The only problem was that none of it was his. 

For a moment, Harry wished he could just take the Knight Bus. He had enough wizard money to pay for it, but after being so easily traced by the Ministry on his last attempt to run away, he was reluctant to use the bus for a clandestine trip. So if Harry wanted to get to London to save Sirius, he would have to steal money from his relatives. 

This was far from the first time he had considered the possibility of taking money from the Dursleys, but it  _ was _ the first time he was serious enough to actually do it. 

Skipping a line on the paper and indenting a bit, Harry wrote down,  _ Get money _ .

And so Harry continued to plan his trip to rescue Sirius from the Ministry, thinking of as many details as he possibly could. 

* * *

The afternoon faded quickly into the evening without Harry paying it much mind. He was too busy pacing his room, trying to plan for all the things that could go wrong. 

Harry had not been called down for dinner. It seemed Uncle Vernon had decided to ignore the threats he’d received at the train station. Not that Harry cared much; he had more important things on his mind and wasn’t all that hungry anyways. 

The sound of the toilet flushing across the hall startled Harry out of his reverie. After a couple more seconds of listening, Harry was able to determine that all of the Dursleys had begun to get ready for bed. This was what he had been waiting for. 

All the Dursleys were ensconced in their rooms awake, but occupied with their nightly routines. It was the perfect time for Harry to slip downstairs and grab the things he would need for tonight. 

Harry was able to make it down the stairs without a single sound thanks to the ease of long practice. His first stop was at the cupboard under the stairs to pick up his invisibility cloak. He had decided to also grab some galleons– in case there was an emergency, and he needed to stay in the Wizarding world longer than planned.

The lock on the cupboard was easy enough for Harry to pick, after years of being friends with the twins. There was a moment where Harry considered grabbing his school books, if only so he could have something to do this summer, but he decided against it. They would only weigh him down, and besides, he would have Sirius back soon enough. 

After acquiring his cloak, Harry pulled it over his head. The security of being invisible allowed him to relax a bit more. He relocked the cupboard door behind him and moved on to the sitting room. 

Uncle Vernon was far from subtle about the fact that he kept a small stash of emergency cash in the sitting room, and an even larger one in his bedroom. Since Harry only needed a couple pounds, it made far more sense to raid the stash in the sitting room. There was no need to risk entering Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia’s bedroom, a violation that would land Harry in a world of trouble. 

There was a single lonely bookshelf in the corner of the sitting room. Harry made a beeline right for it. It was dark in the room, but it was nonetheless easy for Harry to pinpoint the location of the stash. There was only one book lacking a thick coating of dust, after all. 

Between the pages of the book were a handful of bills in small denominations. Harry took one of each kind of bill to try and not alert Vernon as to the theft, then put everything else back as it was. 

He now had everything he needed to rescue Sirius. 

Harry could hear the Dursleys finishing up their nighttime routines, so he had to hurry back up to his room. As much as he wanted to leave for London now, his plan called for him to leave once the Dursleys were asleep, and he was hesitant to deviate from his plan. 

Once in his room, Harry pulled off the cloak, folded it carefully, and set it– and the money– under the loose floorboard for the time being. No one was likely to come in, but Harry thought it was best not to leave such incriminating items laying about. 

Harry still had some time to pass until the Dursleys fell asleep, so he got out another sheet of paper and started to draft a letter to Ron and Hermione. Once Harry came back with Sirius in tow, he knew he would want to tell them all about what had happened. 

Once Harry had finished laying out his discovery– Sirius was trapped in the Department of Mysteries– and his plan to rescue Sirius, he checked the time. To his relief, it was finally late enough that the Dursleys were sure to be asleep. 

Harry set aside the broken pencil and stood up from his desk. Moving quietly, he knelt down and got out the invisibility cloak and the money. Then he went and pulled on a hoodie and put the hood up. 

Standing in the middle of his room, Harry ran through his plan one last time to be sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. 

“Hey, Harry!” Sirius exclaimed. “Going somewhere?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for reading! please comment down below letting me know what you thought!! 
> 
> the discord server for my writing is [here!](https://discord.gg/Haqjvq)


	2. Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> huge thank you to [duplicity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/duplicity/pseuds/duplicity) for beta reading!

“Hey, Harry!” Sirius exclaimed. “Going somewhere?”

Harry jumped and whirled around, coming face to face with the ghost of Sirius Black. Sirius was now pearly and translucent— the intangible form of a ghost. But aside from that, Sirius looked just as he had the moment he fell through the veil— like he had fallen through the veil and into Harry’s room. Harry froze, the sight of Sirius in his room incomprehensible and impossible.

“I know my beauty is stunning, but really, this,” Sirius said, gesturing at Harry’s face and body language, “is a bit much.” 

“Sirius?” Harry exclaimed, breaking out of his shock. “You’re  _ here _ ?” 

Sirius straightened up and brushed off his shoulders. “In the flesh!” He looked down at his pearly, translucent body. “Or in the ghost, I suppose.” 

“But I thought you were trapped in the Department of Mysteries.”

Sirius tilted his head to the side and frowned. Then his expression morphed into one of understanding. “You were going to break me out of the Department of Mysteries, weren’t you?” 

Harry looked away and flushed. “I just— I thought you were trapped there, and I couldn’t stand the thought of it.” 

“Oh, pup,” Sirius said. He took a silent step forward and set his hand on Harry’s shoulder. Only he didn’t quite manage it. His hand passed through Harry’s body, leaving behind an icy chill. 

Harry shuddered. 

“Right,” Sirius muttered, “I’m going to have to get used to that.” He took a step away from Harry and tucked his hands into his pockets. 

“So…” Harry said, trailing off. Whether or not his plan to rescue Sirius would have worked, this felt too easy— too  _ lucky _ to be true. Harry was beginning to wonder if Sirius was really here, or if he was a figment of Harry’s imagination, brought about by Harry’s desperation for Sirius to not be dead. 

“So,” Sirius returned. 

Harry shrugged helplessly, still too shocked to think of anything to say. 

“I have to ask,” Sirius said eventually, “what made you think I was trapped in the Department of Mysteries?” 

Harry reached up to rub at the back of his neck and realized that his hood was still up. He shoved the hood down, then went ahead and rubbed at his neck. “Does that mean you  _ weren’t _ trapped there?” Harry asked, avoiding the question. 

Sirius shook his head. “Where I was is a bit complicated—” 

Harry glared. 

“—and I am more than happy to explain. But I must admit that I’m curious about your plan and whatever it was that made you believe that I needed rescue in the first place.” 

Harry knew he wasn’t going to get out of answering Sirius, even though he now felt ridiculous about the whole thing. To postpone the moment he had to respond, he took his time in stripping off his hoodie and replacing his cloak and wand beneath his loose floorboard. 

In the meantime, Sirius had been walking around Harry’s room, poking at the broken toys on the shelves. 

When Harry sat down on his bed, Sirius perked up and hurried over to sit down on Harry’s chair. He fell through to the ground. 

Harry laughed, then slapped his hand over his mouth to cover the sound. He sent a wary glance at his door, then looked back to Sirius, who had stood up. 

“I’d like to see  _ you _ do a better job of being a ghost,” Sirius said, indignant. Then he glared at the chair and slowly lowered himself onto it. This time, he managed to not fall to the ground. 

Harry’s heart leapt. “Are you—” he started to say. 

Sirius shook his head. “I am merely floating above the surface of the chair. I cannot interact with anything in the physical world.” 

Harry’s shoulders slumped forward. “Yeah, that makes sense.” 

“Now, I want to hear about what hare-brained plan you thought up to go rescue me from the Ministry— and everything else too.” 

Harry scratched at the back of his neck again, stalling for just a bit longer. “I thought that there might be wards on the room where you had d—” Harry’s voice hitched, but he forced his way through it— “died that kept you from leaving. It seemed like the sort of thing that the Unspeakables would have done, especially with that veil there.” 

Sirius stayed silent for a long moment, and Harry was afraid he was going to ask  _ why _ Harry had been so sure that Sirius had come back as a ghost. “Alright, I can understand that. So, what was your plan to do it?” 

Harry groaned, though he was privately relieved this was what Sirius had chosen to ask. He got to his feet and opened the top drawer on his desk, pulling out the paper where he had laid out his plan. 

“Here,” Harry said, holding out the piece of paper. 

“Be a dear and hold that up for me,” Sirius said, grinning. 

“Oh, right,” Harry said. He shifted his grip on the paper so he was holding it up in front of Sirius’s face. Harry couldn’t believe he hadn’t realized that Sirius couldn’t even hold up a piece of paper anymore. Harry watched out of the corner of his eye as Sirius read through his plan but could discern nothing of the man’s thoughts from his face. 

“Alright,” Sirius said, shoving his hand through the sheet of paper.

Harry jumped, the sudden appearance of the ghostly hand startling him. He rolled his eyes at Sirius, then shoved the paper into the desk drawer and sat back down on his bed. 

“Two things: first and most importantly, you didn’t react at all to me calling you a deer. Which, as it is a terrible pun, warranted at least an eye roll. Second of all, while that was a reasonably thought out plan, it was obviously quite unnecessary. I am here now, so shelve all your breaking and entering plans until we figure out how to turn a ghost invisible, since I will utterly ruin your plans as I am now.” 

“Er— sorry?” Harry said. “And thank you?” 

“It’s alright, we have plenty of time to work on your pun recognition skills,” Sirius said, putting up his hand to pat Harry’s shoulder, then thinking better of it and stopping. 

“Right,” said Harry, dubious. Then, remembering Sirius’s earlier promise, he changed the subject. “So where were you if you weren’t trapped in the Ministry?” 

Sirius shifted on top of his seat. “You may want to settle in, this could be a bit of a story to tell.” 

Harry glanced down at his comfortable position on his bed. He waved his hand forward, indicating that Sirius could continue. 

“Well, as you can see, I did not die, so I was not in the afterlife, or wherever it is that we go after we die. But— I was somewhere close to that. I was in an in-between place, a crossroads of sorts. It looked a lot like King’s Cross, actually, if King’s Cross was devoid of color and inexplicably eerie. 

“At first I was completely and utterly alone. Sometime later— it could have been minutes or hours or even days, it is impossible to say as time flowed differently there— I heard voices through the fog.” Sirius paused, taking in a deep breath. 

Harry scooted forward, eager to hear who Sirius had met. 

“It was your parents, looking just as I remembered them. I was absolutely delighted by this, since I’ve always enjoyed lording my superior age over James in particular— but now I  _ really _ look older,” Sirius said, grinning. “As soon as I saw him and his young face, I had to give him a noogie. 

“We spent an eternity and no time at all catching up— time ebbed and flowed around us,” Sirius waved his hands around in demonstration, “leaving behind no trace of its passage, so I cannot say how long we talked.” Sirius paused and sighed before continuing. 

“At some point during our conversation, I was overcome by an urge to board a train with Lily and James. But then I heard you say my name, loud and clear, as if you were right in front of me. My memories of the time I’ve spent with you came to the forefront of my mind, all at once. 

“I could remember it all in vivid detail, all the way back to when I held you just after you were born— and I just couldn’t board that train,” Sirius gestured in a slashing motion. “I just couldn’t. So, I grabbed Lily and James in one last goodbye hug, then King’s Cross faded to black. Next thing I knew, I was coming to, right here in your room. You know the rest from there!” 

“You got to talk to my parents?” Harry burst out. It was all he could think about— his parents and Sirius, in the same place, all together. 

Sirius nodded. 

“Why didn’t you go with them, then?” Harry couldn’t imagine getting to see his parents and then turning away from the opportunity to  _ stay _ with them. But that was what Sirius had chosen to do. 

Sirius stared at him. “Obviously I couldn’t just  _ leave _ . There are too many attractive people still on Earth for me to seduce, and you can’t have one-night stands when you’re dead!” 

There was a moment where Harry almost took Sirius seriously, but then he remembered what Sirius was like. “I meant it, Sirius! Why didn’t you go with my parents?” 

“Because of you, pup,” Sirius said, smiling. “I told you, as soon as our experiences together came to me, that was it. I could never have left you alone here, not when there was any other option.” 

Harry swallowed around the sudden lump in his throat, unable to speak or even look at Sirius. Harry nodded. 

“Which reminds me,” Sirius continued, “your parents want you to know that they would have come back if they could. They had no idea that you would end up here with the Dursleys. They thought that you would be raised by me, a prospect that was apparently peaceful enough that they both went on,” Sirius said with a grin.

Harry bit his lip and did his best to keep the tears he could feel building up from falling. There was something so reassuring about  _ knowing _ that his parents hadn’t wanted this for him. It was something he had always thought, had forced himself to believe. But now he knew for sure, and that fact was so comforting that he almost lost his battle not to cry. 

Harry wanted to ask about what else Sirius had talked about with his parents, but Sirius had already told him so much that it almost felt intrusive to ask for more. 

Deep down, Harry could feel that itching and burning curiosity building up again, but he shoved it down, at least for now. Now that Sirius was a ghost, Harry had all the time in the world to ask about his parents. 

“So, you’re here to stay?” Harry asked, just to be sure. 

“Sure am,” Sirius said. “You’re my tether here. Wherever you go, I will follow.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you for reading!! please leave a comment below and don't forget to join my discord server for better sneak peaks and other cool stuff! 
> 
> [LINK HERE](https://discord.gg/FZ6thg5)
> 
> can't wait to talk to you there!


	3. Distraction

Sirius’s morning had been very dull. In fact, his night had been dull too, but at least night time had the excuse of being meant for sleep, an activity that Sirius could no longer participate in. Mornings were meant to be interesting, but as a ghost, Sirius had been unable to do anything while Harry readied himself for the day.

Then Petunia had called Vernon and Dudley— what a terrible name that was— down for breakfast. Sirius had been prepared to spend the morning snooping around the Dursley’s bedrooms while Harry ate downstairs, but Harry had not gone down when Petunia had called. 

This had puzzled Sirius, particularly when, even after Vernon and Dudley had gone down, there had been no subsequent call for Harry.

Harry had acted as though this was typical and had become engrossed in writing a letter. Taking his cue from Harry, Sirius had done his best to hold his peace despite his rampant curiosity.

Finally, after long, countless minutes of doing nothing but watch Harry write, Sirius could take it no longer. “So when do you get breakfast?” he asked, trying for a casual tone. 

Harry’s head whipped up, and he stared at Sirius with wide eyes. “Er— soon. I just don’t like the Dursleys, so, uh, they’ve given up on trying to get me to eat with them.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes. He was going to express his skepticism when Petunia shouted from the kitchen.

“Get down here, boy!” she shrieked.

Harry dropped the pen he had been holding and got to his feet. “I’ll be back, Sirius.”

Sirius watched as Harry left the room, then listened as Harry walked down the stairs. It was odd to be alone in a room without Harry. Even with Harry still in the house and nearby, Sirius felt a tug in his chest, pulling him towards Harry.

Sirius did his best to ignore the tug and to focus on pinpointing the locations of the other Dursleys in the house.

This was an easy task. Thanks to their overwhelming bulk, the male Dursleys were far from subtle. And Petunia seemed incapable of allowing even a second to pass without filling the house with her horrible voice. The sound of her shrieks was a vivid reminder of all the things Lily had told him about her relatives— and of the few unpleasant encounters Sirius had had with the Dursleys.

Then, to Sirius’s delight, Vernon and Dudley made quite the ruckus as they left the house. Vernon departed for work, and Dudley for someone named Piers’ house.

With the two male Dursleys gone, Sirius took the opportunity to snoop around the upper rooms. He stepped into the hall, then immediately took a reflexive step back as Petunia strode past him and into her bedroom. Sirius smacked himself in the face and sighed in disappointment. 

But then Sirius realized, with Petunia safely ensconced in her bedroom, he was free to go join Harry in the kitchen. And really, even if Petunia did come back to the kitchen, she was a Muggle and thus unable to see or hear him.

It was time to go have some fun with his godson.

Sirius focused and allowed himself to fall through the floor. He landed in the sitting room, facing the wall. Sirius whirled around and floated towards Harry, allowing the pull in his chest to guide him.

“How’s it going, Harry?” Sirius proclaimed as he arrived.

Harry nearly dropped the dish he’d been washing. “Sirius,” he hissed, “what are you doing down here?”

Sirius grinned and had to restrain the impulse to loop his arm around Harry’s shoulder. “I am here to keep my godson company.”

“What if Aunt Petunia comes back in here? She doesn’t take that long to get ready in the mornings,” Harry whispered.

Sirius shrugged. “She can’t see or hear me. As long as you’re subtle about reacting to me, she never has to know I’m here.”

Harry closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. “I guess I really can’t stop you. Just, please, don’t do anything stupid.”

“Stupid? Me? I would  _ never _ ,” Sirius said. He started wandering around the kitchen, poking at things and sticking his head into the cabinets. He couldn’t actually see anything inside of them since there was no light, but it was satisfying to take advantage of his incorporeal nature.

Harry returned to washing the dishes, his stiff posture relaxing with each dish he finished cleaning. Once his posture was no longer quite so tense, Sirius stopped his absent explorations and set himself on a counter near Harry.

“So how was your breakfast?” Sirius asked, looking at the considerable pile of dishes Harry still had to wash.

“Oh, uh, it was good. Pancakes and sausages.”

Sirius smiled dreamily as he remembered the joys of eating. Then he fished around his mind for something he could ramble about while Harry washed the dishes. Harry didn’t seem very interested in conversing, so Sirius would take it upon himself to carry the conversation alone. He ended up recanting the story of the first time he and James had broken into the Slytherin common room.

Sirius gave himself a pat on the back for choosing an excellent topic. Harry sent him starry-eyed glances every now and again, clearly delighted to hear a story about his father. Before Sirius had died, it had been difficult to remember much of his Hogwarts days.

The Dementors had done a number on all his pleasant memories.

But once he had come back as a ghost, Sirius had found himself able to remember his entire life in vivid clarity. Sirius hadn’t thought much of this ability before, but now he was more than grateful for it because he could see the true potential his memories held. It may have been bittersweet for Sirius to recall those golden days of the Marauders, but the joy Harry got out of hearing about them made it more than worthwhile.

Just as Sirius was wrapping up the story, Petunia came barging into the kitchen.

“Are you still cleaning those dishes, boy?” Petunia snapped. “Just because Vernon has left, doesn’t mean you can slack off—"

Sirius tuned her out then, an action necessary to prevent himself from losing his mind with rage. How  _ dare _ Petunia speak to his godson like that? Harry had been hard at work washing the dishes the entire time she’d been gone. It was hardly Harry’s fault that there were so many dishes to wash.

Sirius shifted his gaze from Petunia to Harry. Harry was standing at the sink, still washing the dishes, but his body was tense and there was a beleaguered slump to his shoulders that heightened Sirius’s rage further.

Petunia made some gesture with her hand that made Harry flinch back, and Sirius decided that enough was enough. He may be a ghost, and he may not be able to interact with Petunia directly, but he could still talk to Harry.

“Get a load of this bitch,” Sirius declared, throwing a contemptuous look at Petunia. “Can’t be bothered to clean her own dishes, so she has to make a spectacle of herself.”

Harry threw Sirius a confused look, likely because he couldn’t hear Sirius well over the sound of Petunia ranting.

Staring at Petunia, Sirius realized that she really was making a spectacle of herself. He slid off the counter and went to stand next to her. Then, with as much vigor as he could manage, Sirius started imitating her, exaggerating her motions and making grotesque facial expressions.

Harry glanced at them, then looked away. He didn’t otherwise react, but the slump to his shoulders lessened.

Sirius was pleased with his victory up until Petunia said something particularly vile. 

“—is why your friends never have you around in the summers,” she said with a nasty sneer. “They obviously don’t care about you, you’re too useless for anyone to want around.” 

Her words caused Harry to become just as dejected as before. Sirius decided that Harry didn’t need to hear any of this, so he started chanting nonsense, as loudly as Petunia, doing his best to drown her out.

Harry relaxed again, to Sirius’s relief.

Petunia ran out of steam soon after that and left to stare at the neighbors over the garden wall. Once she had left the room, Sirius went to take his seat on the counter again.

“It’s hard to believe that woman is related to Lily,” Sirius stated.

Harry nodded, setting aside the last clean dish. “I used to tell myself that mum was adopted, because I liked to think of her as nice, and I couldn’t imagine someone nice being related to Aunt Petunia.”

Sirius nodded. “Perfectly understandable. James and I had a conversation along those same lines after the first time we met Petunia.”

Harry looked as though he was about to ask about that, so Sirius held up his hand. “Why don’t we head up to your room?” He pointed at where Petunia was standing in the garden. “We don’t want to be interrupted by her.”

“Alright,” Harry said, gesturing for Sirius to lead the way.

“Last one there is a rotten egg,” Sirius said with a grin at Harry. Then he floated up through the ceiling, arriving in the loo. He hurried over to Harry’s room and had just settled onto Harry’s desk chair when he heard Harry’s feet pounding up the stairs.

“Took you long enough,” Sirius said, still grinning, as Harry burst into the room.

“You cheated,” Harry protested.

“It’s not my fault you can’t take the fastest path here.”

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger and shook his head. Then he took a seat on his bed.

Sirius took a moment to just observe Harry. Here, in his room, Harry was much more relaxed than he had been in the kitchen. He was not completely at ease, but the difference was notable. This place was not good for Harry, not at all, and it pained Sirius that there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t even hold a quill to write a letter.

Though he knew it was likely futile, Sirius knew he had to at least try to convince Harry to tell someone.

“Have you thought about telling someone about how you’re treated here?” Sirius asked.

Harry tensed up again, just as stiff as he had been while Petunia was spewing vile.

“You deserve better than to be treated like this, and if someone like Minerva or Molly knew, they would be sure to do something about it.”

“I’m treated fine,” Harry said.

Sirius shook his head. “You forget what my mother was like, and that I was practically adopted by your grandparents. I know what good treatment looks like, and I know what not-good treatment looks like. This is not good treatment.”

“It doesn’t matter anyways—"

“Of course it  _ matters _ ,” Sirius interrupted, “you matter, so the way that you’re treated matters.”

Harry opened his mouth, and Sirius held up his hand.

“If you’re about to argue that point, reconsider that choice. Your importance, and the subsequent importance of your treatment, are not up for debate.”

Harry closed his mouth for a moment. “Alright. But even if you’re right, it’s still not worth bothering anyone about.”

Sirius sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “You wouldn’t be bothering them, you know. They would be glad that you had trusted them enough to tell them, if you did.”

Harry surged to his feet and started pacing back and forth in the confined space of his bedroom. “I can’t tell anyone, alright? Dumbledore already knows, anyways, and he thinks that I’m safer here behind the wards.”

Sirius narrowed his eyes, unwilling to believe that Dumbledore truly knew what went on here. The man liked to play at omniscience— he did not know everything that he claimed to. But Harry seemed to believe Dumbledore. Pushing the subject further would likely only agitate Harry more. 

Sirius nodded. “So about that first time James and I met Petunia,” he began.

Harry stilled in his pacing and turned to face Sirius with wide eyes.

As Sirius told the story, Harry took a seat on the bed again and was quickly engrossed in hearing more about his father. Sirius basked in this newfound ability to turn Harry’s mood around.

There was little else Sirius could do, after all. Just like in life, Sirius was relegated to the sidelines with little recourse for action. This burned now just as much as it always had, but Sirius forced himself to focus on the positives that his existence as a ghost offered him. No one could separate him from Harry. He could remember the happy times in his life— and relay them to Harry. He could distract Harry from nuisances by mocking the Muggles with impunity.

Deep down, Sirius knew that this wasn’t enough. That he would always yearn to  _ change _ things for Harry— that he would always feel the burn of his impotence.

But then, as Harry laughed at one of Sirius’s dumber jokes, Sirius felt some of his frustration wash away. 

This would have to be enough. He would have to be enough for Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comment below letting me know what you thought! and down below is a link to my discord server where i share neat sneak peaks, spoilers, and where i hang out for chattin' so you ought to join and come hang out!
> 
> [LINK HERE](https://discord.gg/FZ6thg5)
> 
> can't wait to talk to you there!

**Author's Note:**

> be sure to check out my tumblr [waitingondaisies](https://waitingondaisies.tumblr.com/) for writing updates and other fun stuff!
> 
> and join my writing [discord server!](https://discord.gg/9V7J3Xp)


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